Obituary - sample

Langston Hughes, Break Through Poet Dead at 65
Harlem, New York
May 23, 1967
By Starr Sackstein

It was a sad day for all of the people in Harlem. James Mercer Langston Hughes better known as just Langston Hughes passed away in Polyclinic Hospital of cancer. Hughes is best known for his many prize-winning poems and short stories. He will be remembered and missed.
Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri in February of 1902. His parents, Carrie Langston Hughes, a schoolteacher and James Nathaniel Hughes, a storekeeper separated early in his life and he was raised until he was 12 by his grandparents in Lawrence, Kansas.
Hughes got the writing bug early in his life and began composing his beautiful poetry in elementary school. He was voted class poet while in the Eighth grade in Lincoln, Illinois. Even then, his classmates could see that he possessed something special.

Hughes was a Walt Whitman enthusiast as he too wrote about “workers, roustabouts, and singers, and job hunters…people up today and down tomorrow, working this week and fired the next, beaten and baffled, but determined not to be wholly beaten.” He was a poet of the masses, speaking of his experiences of the world. His experiences were all of our experiences despite the chaos that lurked in our country.
Langston Hughes’ best-known works are “The Weary Blues,” “Negro Speaks of Rivers” and Not Without Laughter. He had written several volumes of poetry, six novels, nine young person’s novels, two autobiographies, a variety of short stories and sketches, plays, photo essays, translations, lyrics for musicals and operas, radio and television scripts, recordings and articles on an array of topics.

Langston Hughes lived at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem. He will be missed by the literary community as well as by his remaining family. He never married.

Sample journal entry - exemplar

May 10, 1967

My days are quickly coming to an end. I feel them slipping by me the same way the countrysides of my youth drifted by in a fuzz and a whirl. I watched many people come and go and my life really feels complete despite my age and lack of relationships. I had wanted to be married but was dismayed early in life when love just didn’t come easily to me. Looking back on my years now, I feel as though I have done what my life has been put her for.

I traveled all over this good world, from Haiti, Mexico to the Soviet Union and Europe. I’ve played all kinds of place and met all kinds of people. No job was beneath me and situation was unconquerable. I am proud of what I have done even though everything hasn’t gone as planned.

When I found out that I had cancer, I wasn’t really surprised, I just didn’t think that life would pass me by so much more quickly. I’ve had so many opportunities afforded to me and I can honestly say that I’ve made the most of them all. I left my mark on this world as few can say and I had fun too. In these closing days, as I know the end is near, I warmly remember the hardships of my youth and the plight that my people and I have faced. I am confident that my work will touch people in a way that will hopefully inspire the young Negros of America to do something with their lives. Then at least I know my legacy was for something.

Signing out for now

Happy Snow Day

I hope all of you are staying warm and inside on this day off for snow...

Please use this opportunity to get some work done. Many of you haven't done your midterm reflection questions which should be emailed to me as soon as possible...

also there are many assignments missing...

Take this unexpected surprise to start making up work and reflecting on your current practices as we begin to wind down this 2nd trimester.

Wednesday you are on a field trip, so you will be missing class again... your projects are still due on March 16th... the grade will count twice... presentations will be happening all week (march 16-march 20)...

We will then be moving into our next full length novel - Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Please make sure to grab yourself a copy of this novel as soon as possible. If you could buy it, it would be ideal. If not, please borrow it in time for March 23rd - That is when we plan on beginning.

Reflections in general

It is really important when writing reflections that you really go into depth about what your understanding of the assignment was and then how your work demonstrates you have done it.

Use the rubrics provided by your teachers to be specific in the standards and skills expected of you and then you can address many of them in your reflection.

Talk about what you did well.

Talk about what you could still do better.

Talk about how you felt about the assignment while you were doing it.

What do you want the reader of your reflection to take away from the piece you have used?

Sample standard based portfolio reflection

I have chosen my independent reading assignment for my portfolio because I feel that it illustrates my ability to demostrate a variety of skills and standards in this class. Because I have achieved a 93 on it, I feel that I am more than meeting many standards. It shows that I can identify texts of various genres independently and then write brief critical analysis about my selections.

For questions 3 and 4 where it asked me to locate a passage that shows the author's effective use in language, I show that I am both able to identify different literary elements such setting and characterization as well as literary techniques like foreshadowing and figurative language in the text. In addition to identifying these elements, I can discuss and analyze the author's craft and effectiveness. I feel that is not enough to just mention, but rather also to discuss the effect it has on the audience by using these things. I feel that reading published author's work has further helped me develop my writing as well.

Other things I am successful with in the assignment is my ability to understand texts on more than one level. I show that there is deeper meaning by selecting a passage and then drawing my own conclusions and making inferences.

I think this assignment demonstrates my successful mastery of these standards. I have learned to read a novel more closely and become acutely aware not only of story line meaning, but author's purpose while reading. I've also been able to write about these things in a meaningful way.

In the future, I feel that I will need to be more specific in addressing theme in this assignment. I think that I misunderstood what theme was about in question 6. I could have also worke with symbolism, but I think I mistook theme to be the main idea, when really it is just an overriding idea and there could be many in a text. Author's use them to connect the story to readers. Sometimes I could have selected more effective passages too. I think I may have rushed alittle in my selection of a passage about setting.

Independent Reading Assignment Standards

In an effort to help you all write better, more specific reflections, I wanted to help you understand the specific standards we have been addressing in the independent reading assignment:

For the whole assignment:

• Standard ELA2: Language for Literary Response and Expression Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.


• Listening and Reading Key Idea 1 -->ELA2.LR1: Listening and reading for literary response involves comprehending, interpreting, and critiquing imaginative texts in every medium, drawing on personal experiences and knowledge to understand the text, and recognizing the social, historical and cultural features of the text


• Students read and view independently and fluently across many genres of literature from many cultures and historical periods


• Students identify the distinguishing features of different literary genres, periods, and traditions and use those features to interpret the work.


• Students recognize and understand the significance of a wide range of literary elements and techniques, (including figurative language, imagery, allegory, irony, blank verse, symbolism, stream-of-consciousness) and use those elements to interpret the work.


• Students understand how multiple levels of meaning are conveyed in a text


• Students read aloud expressively to convey a clear interpretation of the work
  

Performance Indicator 01--> ELA2.12.WR2.01::--> Students write interpretive and responsive essays of approximately five pages to: express judgments and support them through references to the text, using direct quotations and paraphrase

• explain how the author's use of literary devices, such as allegory, stream of consciousness, and irony, affects meaning

Performance Indicator 06--> ELA2.12.RE1.06::--> Students interpret multiple levels of meaning and subtleties in text

Performance Indicator 02--> ELA2.11.WR2.02::-->

• Students write interpretive and responsive essays of approximately three to five pages to:
• express judgments and support them through references to the text, using direct quotations and paraphrase
• explain how the author's use of literary devices affects meaning
• examine development and impact of literary elements, such as character (protagonist and antagonist), action (conflict, intrigue, suspense, and climax), and setting (locale and time period), in literary texts and performances
• compare and contrast the treatment of literary elements in different genres and by more than one author
• use literary criticism to expand personal analysis of the literary texts engage in a variety of prewriting experiences, such as using a variety of visual representations, to express interpretations, feelings, and new insights
  

Independent Reading Assignment Standards

In an effort to help you all write better, more specific reflections, I wanted to help you understand the specific standards we have been addressing in the independent reading assignment:

For the whole assignment:

• Standard ELA2: Language for Literary Response and Expression Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.
• Listening and Reading Key Idea 1 -->ELA2.LR1: Listening and reading for literary response involves comprehending, interpreting, and critiquing imaginative texts in every medium, drawing on personal experiences and knowledge to understand the text, and recognizing the social, historical and cultural features of the text
• Students read and view independently and fluently across many genres of literature from many cultures and historical periods
• Students identify the distinguishing features of different literary genres, periods, and traditions and use those features to interpret the work.
• Students recognize and understand the significance of a wide range of literary elements and techniques, (including figurative language, imagery, allegory, irony, blank verse, symbolism, stream-of-consciousness) and use those elements to interpret the work.
• Students understand how multiple levels of meaning are conveyed in a text
• Students read aloud expressively to convey a clear interpretation of the work
  

Performance Indicator 01--> ELA2.12.WR2.01::--> Students write interpretive and responsive essays of approximately five pages to: express judgments and support them through references to the text, using direct quotations and paraphrase

• explain how the author's use of literary devices, such as allegory, stream of consciousness, and irony, affects meaning

Performance Indicator 06--> ELA2.12.RE1.06::--> Students interpret multiple levels of meaning and subtleties in text